Ty and Dee make a trip to Lewiston

I was surprised Saturday morning when I opened the door to Ty and Eli.  We went to the Hellsgate beach for the afternoon because it was so hot outside.

Eli stayed the night at our house Saturday night and of course we had to walk to the playground at Webster.

Powell Campground on the Lochsa River

We camped for three nights near the Powell Ranger Station before heading back to Lewiston.

Challis Hot Springs

We are staying at the hot springs for 3 nights and attending the Braun Brothers Reunion on Saturday.
It's funny, we'd never heard of any of these bands...Jeff Crosby and the Refugees, Brian Keane, The Damn Quails, Kelly Willis/Bruce Robison, and Reckless Kelly...but we enjoyed the 10 hours of music and watching all the people.  There were lots of girls in short skirts, cowboy boots and hats, lots of beer consumed, but it never got too rowdy to make me uncomfortable.  There were people from as far away as New York and Alaska and lots of people from Texas.

Camping north of Sun Valley

We found a pretty little campground along the river as our next stopping point.

Craters of the Moon

Well, it was interesting geologically, but we definitely didn't want to camp here.  It was all black volcanic rock---hardly any trees.  We took the driving loop, did a couple of short walks, and drove on.

Camping at Yellowstone

Traffic was heavy and slow as soon as we entered Yellowstone Park.  We made it to our campground at Madison about 4:30.  After setting up camp, we explored the campgrounds by bike and then attended the ranger talk at 9:00.

one of the lower geyser basin walks--look at the crowds of people

Darliss at Lower Geyser Basin

Middle Geyser Basin

Darliss at Paint Pots walk

Snake River

Lewis Lake

Day 1:  Grand Loop Road is set up in a figure-8.  We explored the lower part of the loop today.  That included Old Faithful and lots of walks on boardwalk paths to explore various geysers, paint pots, and mud pots along the way.  It also included traveling around Yellowstone Lake, Fishing Village, and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone before returning to camp.  We walked lots of short trails today and realized the scope of the volcanic activity at the park.

Day 2:  We explored the upper part of the loop that included Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt Junction and lodge, and more of the canyon.  The sights are awe-inspiring at every stop and Larry has taken tons of pictures each day.  I can't believe how many people and cars there are at every stop and lookout.  Each place we had to search to find a place to park.  We hadn't seen any game, but today a coyote crossed the road right in front of us, we encountered a bison-jam as we slowly followed a large group of bison up the road, saw two black bear cubs, and saw a large bull elk right by the side of the road.

Firehole Canyon

Day 3:  broke up camp headed toward toward Craters of the Moon.

Camping at Gros Ventre

We stayed 3 nights at Gros Ventre Campground (pronounced grow vont) in Teton National Park.  It has 240 camp spots, the terrain is scrub brush and trees, and the camp spots are pretty close together.  On the other hand, there were spots available and we were tired of driving :)  Right before we entered the camp, a small herd of bison crossed the road.

Day 1:  We did a driving tour of the highlights of Teton Park.  Those included driving up the Signal Mtn. road to the Tower (elev 7727), exploring Signal Mountain Lodge, Jackson Lake Village, Colter Bay Village, Menors Ferry Historic District, and driving the Jenny Lake Loop.  Game seen:  pronghorn, cows, horses

Day 2:  We planned to bike the Jenny Lake Loop this morning, but realized that I not only had a flat tire, but  had lost the quick release on my left wheel during one of my rides on the bumpy roads.  I retraced my steps around the campground, but no luck finding it.  Finally we decided to go to one of the bike shops in Jackson Hole to see if they could help me.   Game seen:  people :)

By the time they helped with a makeshift solution, it was 1:00 and too hot to ride.  We decided to drive out the Gros Ventre Road to the Red Hills to check out a couple of other campgrounds.  It was a beautiful drive.  The Red Rocks are stunning, especially because there is a horse ranch right below some of the most colorful rocks.  The horse ranch had beautiful green pastures that really contrasted with the red rocks.  We decided we were glad we didn't drive to the other campgrounds to camp because the roads were so narrow, windy,rough, and often one lane with turnouts.
Game seen:  pronghorn, deer, horses

Tetons

Historic Chapel near Moose

original wagons used for tourists

Jackson Lake Dam

Tetons through the smokey haze

Darliss at antler arch at Jackson Square

center of Jackson Square park with antler arches on each corner

Slide Lake formed when a giant landslided blocked the river

The Red Hills on Gros Ventre Road

ed Day 3:  Time to check out and head to Yellowstone since we have reservations for 5th-7th.  We traveled past Jackson Lake again and via the John D. Rickefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway to the South Entrance of Yellowstone.

Jim Bridger Rock

enjoying the peaceful evening next to the Green River

Jim Bridger cut his name to this rock

As we continued our journey to Teton National Park, we camped near a rock signed by Jim Bridger, the famous mountain man and guide during the Oregon Trail times.

Steamboat Springs

When we arrived at Steamboat Springs, we were told about a campground a few miles out of town in the Mountains called Dry Lake Campground.  We drove out and stayed the night.

Larry & Jordyn Concert

Larry worked with Jordyn (she plays guitar and piano) on a few songs so they could have a concert for us one evening. 

Air Force Academy/Garden of the Gods

View from the trail to the chapel

Balancing Rock

Garden of the Gods

Air Force dorms

Jordyn looking out at the Air Force Yard

The Chapel

Sunday we traveled south to Colorado Springs to see the Air Force Academy and drive around all the red rock formations at Garden of the Gods.  I was especially impressed with the design of the chapel at the academy and all the unusual and numerous red rock spires.  We got out and took pics of Balancing Rock and Ship Rock, one of the places kids are allowed to climb around.

Denver Zoo/Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Jordyn chose an experiment about epithelial cells (from our cheeks)

Trent chose an experiment to compare types of sanitizer such as bleach, hand gel, dish soap, etc. to see how many bacteria they kill

We've had a blast visiting Denver and spending time with Michelle, Jim, Trent, and Jordyn.  On Saturday Jim zipped us into the city so we could spend time at the new elephant park and the rest of the zoo.  We ate at the park outside the museum and then spent time at the Science Museum doing science experiments, checking out our health, and looking at all the animal displays.